Our latest “Document of the Week” was chosen by our Editorial Assistant, Chloe Haney. Lifted from our new primary source collection, Germany, 1920–1969: British Foreign Office Confidential Print, it is a population density map of “Greater Germany”. Produced in 1943 by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), it shows the urban and rural population density of the area claimed for “Greater Germany” as of 1941.
This map featured in a strategic survey of Germany conducted by the Research and Analysis Branch of the OSS, a United States intelligence agency formed during the Second World War. The report, which numbered over 300 pages, was sent to the Central Department of the British Foreign Office and recommended for viewing by the Research Department, before being transferred to the Foreign Office Library.
The concept of a “Greater Germany”, or the Greater Germanic Reich, was a key vision of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Driven by Nazi theories of racial, Germanic supremacy, the Third Reich aimed to expand across Europe, creating a pan-Germanic empire that would encompass nearly all of the continent.
Nazi Germany began its campaign of aggressive territorial expansion in March 1938, with the invasion and annexation of Austria. Over the next four years, it expanded into several more territories, namely Western Poland, annexed in 1939; Bohemia and Moravia, annexed in 1939; Alsace-Lorraine, annexed in 1940; and Luxembourg, annexed in 1942. In 1943, the year that this map was published, the official state name of Nazi Germany was changed to the Greater Germanic Reich.
Where to find this document
This document comes from our new primary source collection, Germany, 1920–1969: British Foreign Office Confidential Print. Comprising over 55,000 images sourced from The National Archives (UK), this collection surveys Foreign Office material relating to Germany and its nearest neighbours. The government files in this collection reveal how well-informed British officials and diplomats perceived, interpreted, and responded to Germany throughout much of this critical period, offering an unrivalled English-language insight into the frequent and significant changes which Germany experienced during that time.
Visit the collection page to learn more.